The design derives from plate 14 of Thomas Chippendale's The Gentleman and Cabinet-Maker's Director (London, 1762) and yet, compared to contemporary English chairs, the Philadelphia interpretation of Chippendale's design is relatively restrained. For example, the stop-fluted stiles with deeply scrolled ears, the matching symmetrical shells, and the depth of the seat rails all recall earlier Georgian chairs rather than the lightness and asymmetry of the rococo style popularized by Chippendale. A close variant of this design incorporates low-relief diaper-work in place of a shell at the center of the crest rail; more unusual variants incorporate carved embellishments above the knees, gadrooning, and applied leaf carving across the front seat rails.

An armchair of the same pattern and with similar carving that descended in the family of the Philadelphia cabinetmaker, Jonathan Shoemaker (1726 - 1793), has traditionally been attributed to him. According to Luke Beckerdite and Alan Miller, the carving on the Collection's chair was probably executed by the same shop that produced a Philadelphia high chest and tea table in the Collection, as well as a high chest, matching dressing table, and the base of a high chest in the Garvan collection at Yale.4 There are more members of this related group in other collections. Although the identities of the carver and his shop assistants have yet to be identified, their work can be distinguished from that of others by the quick turn of the tips of the leaves and by the deeply incised chisel strokes near their ends.